Stories to be Rewritten: Percico
by DaughterOfPoseidon2.0
Summary: This is a simple story, probably going to be the start of a series I'm going to do. Basically, Percy is 24 and Nico is 20 and are helping out at Camp Halfblood as part of the staff.
1. Chapter 1

"Percy..." Nico was standing in a meadow of lavender flowers, dark Greek style armor covering his muscular body. He was about twenty years old now, taller, and in the reflection of the small stream that separated him from the person across him he could have sworn at first glance was his father. Like an marble statue carved by the best craftsman, his skin gleamed in sweat, his breath coming out in heavy huffs like he had just ran through fire and brimstone, his greasy black hair tied back in a short ponytail. "Percy Jackson, please, listen to me."

The older boy was across from him, his black hair flowing in waves around his creamy tan skin, his armor stripped off and thrown to the side so he was stark naked in the full moon's glow. He knelt in the soft grass, a dagger in his hands with a something on the very tip of it. A mantary tail. "Nico, I have to..." He looked up at the Ghost King, his normal sparkle dying in is deep sea eyes. "You know how the story goes."

Nico shook his head. "Precious, please, there is always another way! We can find it! Together!" His voice sounded desperate, like a child's. " don't throw away your life to appease your father! Poseidon wouldn't want his own son's death to be in his name!"

Nico set one foot into the stream, daring to cross it to get to his best friend. He wasn't going to loose that one person he cared the most for in his life. Not again. He had lost too many in the past to let this happen in front of him. But as soon as his foot touched the water, Percy set the stream into a frenzy that forced him to step out and back away.

"Please, Nico... Don't stop me." Raising the dagger in the air, he hesitated. He couldn't feel those dark auburn eyes stare into him, burring holes into his already scared skin. Then, he forced his hands to move, to stab himself in the chest.

But just before the blade could get close enough to pierce skin, Nico screamed across the small gap in a final effort to save his friend from himself.

"No! Percy!" Nico was on his knees, eye level with the defeated son of the sea god, pleading with him. Tears were forming in his eyes. "I can't lose you, too!" Percy stopped, looking up at Nico shocked. He stared at his friend, his half-cousin, his right hand in battle, the only one who stood by him when he needed someone the most, with hallow eyes that reminded Nico of the spirits he would call on for guidance. "Don't leave me here on this earth without you!" Nico screamed, his sobs catching in his throat as he tired to speak through them. "I-I- Percy, I-"

Percy's smile caught him off guard, silencing the poor son of Hades in shock. "I know Nico Di Angelo." Lifting the knife again, a tear escaped his eyes as he tried to keep the smile from fading from his lips. "I love you too." And as Nico watched in horror, Percy Jackson stabbed himself through the heart.

Nico bolted upright in his bed, screaming in horror at the nightmare that had he had fallen into. Looking around in a panic, he took deep breaths to calm himself down. He wasn't in the lavender field anymore, but in the Hades cabin safe in a black sheeted bed. The room's darkness enclosed around him like a security blanket as he forced himself to shake off the fear that was clouding his mind. That dream had been too real, too real for his liking.

Nico untangled himself from his covers, whipping off the cold sweat that was covering his body and making his boxers stick to his skin uncomfortably. He began to pace the cabin floor in frustration, the nightmare playing like a broken record over and over in his head. There were too many things that were horribly real, the dagger, the lavender field, the armor, everything! He remembered Grover taking them to the field when they were looking for a place for Percy and Annabeth to go on a picnic a few years back. Nico had always wandered back there when he wanted to be there was the dagger. Last time Percy had him over to the Poseidon cabin, he had noticed the dagger in a glass case, made from the spear-tip of Odysseus' murder weapon. And the armor was hanging in his room, or at least his armor was. It was made specially by Hephaestus himself. Percy and Jason both had matching ones, theirs representing their fathers as well.

"But why did I dream that?" Nico stopped pacing, his overloading mind rummaging through all the reasons before it started to blow a fuse. "Oh, gods. Now I got a headache." Groaning from the splitting pain, he looked at the digital clock by his bed. 12:30 A.M. "Perfect. Jus perfect."

"Well, not the kind of welcome I was hoping for, but I'll take it."

Nico jumped out of his skin, whirling on his heels to see what the hell had said that, when he stopped. In the doorway was Percy Jackson, leaning on the frame like nothing was wrong. Nico's heart skipped a beat as his cheeks began to burn.

"You mother-"

"Keep it PG-13, Nico." Percy interrupted, smirking a little as he looked him up and down. "Nice boxers by the way. Red suites you."

Nico blushed a little darker, going to his closet and pulling out a pair of pants. "I swear to the Gods, you have to be shadow traveling with how silent you are now." Nico said as he slipped on his ghost pajama bottoms that Percy had given to him for Christmas the year before.

"I learned from the king of Sneak himself, so I take your sass as a complement." Percy said with a big grin on his face. Nico sat on the bed, rubbing his temple in one hand and beckoning Percy to come in with the other. Percy plopped down on the bed beside him, a little closer than Nico was comfortable with. "Now, you gunna tell me why you were screaming, or am I going to have to really start worrying?"

Nico groaned a little more, this time from embarrassment. "You heard me scream all the way from the Main House?"

Percy smiled a little. "Nah." Nico couldn't help but notice that his friends ocean colored eyes glowed in the darkness of the room. "I actually had a bad dream and was walking around to try to shake it off when I heard you scream."

Nico arched an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah," Percy said, little uncomfortably it seemed. "You were in it."

Nico's eyebrows shot up, his hand onPercy's shoulder. "What happened?" Nico had a sinking feeling he already knew, but decided that it should be Percy to say it out loud.

"Well... you know the story of how Orpheus tried to bring back his wife Eurydice from the Underworld?" Nico nodded. "Well, and this is going to sound completely silly and stupid, but imagine that you were Eurydice and I was Orpheus on the last leg of the adventure."

"You mean when he looked back and lost her forever, right?" Nico asked.

"Yeah. That part." Percy sighed. " I turned my head to see if you were behind me, and I watched in horror as you were dragged back down into the Underworld. I woke up with the sudden urge to chase after you." Nico blushed a little.

"Well, at least you didn't dream-" Nico stopped. He didn't want to tell Percy he had seen him die. That would explaining a little bit and he wasn't going to tell him exactly what the dream had taken a turn to.

"My dream didn't what, Nico?" Percy asked.

Nico kept silent a few minutes, Percy waiting patently as his younger demigod friend to figure out how to tell it. " You know the tale of how Odysseus died." Percy didn't like were this was going. "Well, you kinda used that dagger to kill yourself to appease your dad... it was... horrible." Nico could feel Percy's gaze on him.

They sat in the darkness in silence for a little bit. Percy twiddled his thumbs while Nico chewed on his bottom lip. "We really need to stop teaching Mythology 101 together." Percy finally said.

"Hey, the campers like it." Nico stated. "And besides, its Chiron's idea to have us teach mythology and fighting here. Not ours."

"I know." Percy said, messing up Nico's hair like he used to, laughing a little. "But hey, maybe mythology is getting into our heads a little too much."

"Percy, we are living mythology." Nico said sarcastically. "We are the Mythology tales we tell for Hades sake!"

Percy sighed. "Yeah... Hey," Percy looked at Nico a little, a small blush on his face. "Do you think those Aphrodite girls are the ones giving us these dreams?"

Nico did a face-palm, groaning in complete annoyance. "I wouldn't be surprised. They have been shipping us like fangirls all summer long."

"Maybe we should talk to them about that obsession... It's probably not a healthy one for them."

"Yeah. Maybe..." Nico looked at Percy, a small little smile on his face. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Percy said without hesitation.

" Do you, you know, 'ship' us?" Nico asked, to Percy's surprise.

"Uhhhhhh, I guess? I'm not sure that were an OTP or whatever the term they use is, but I wouldn't mind that." Percy stated, a little uncomfortably as he admitted it.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, the basics of a good relationship is a strong bond of friendship." Percy smiled a little, blushing a little. " And, well, it wouldn't be that weird since we are, like, practically like brothers-" Nico hugged him, squeezing him tightly. "Wow, wow, wow! What's the meaning behind this!?" Percy asked in surprise, stiffening under his friends surprise embrace.

"Percy, I love you!"

"WWWHHHHHHHAAAAAAATTTTTTT?!"

"Oh shit."


	2. Chapter 2

"WWWWHHHHHHAAAAAATTTTTT?!" Percy's face was beat red, his body tense in Nico's embrace.

"Oh shit." Nico let go and scooted away from him. "Percy, I-I-I didn't-"

"Nico Di Angelo," Percy looked at him with a look that didn't make sense to Nico at all. "why didn't you tell me you were gay!?"

Nico groaned. " You think I would tell you this? You're doing exactly what I thought you would when you find out!" Nico refused to make eye contact with his best friend, a part of his heart dying slowly making him feel like a hallowed out log... or someone had shot him in the chest. Either worked. " I didn't want that to get in the way of us being friends-"

"Dude!" Percy took Nico's face in both of his hands, forcing him to look at him. To Nico's surprise, he was smiling."You should have shared this." Percy leaned a little closer to the younger man, that weird look in his eyes softening and forming into something else that Nico still didn't recognize. " Cause, I would have done this a long time ago."

Nico blinked. "Do-" Percy leaned in and kissed Nico on the lips, catching Nico off guard. He tensed, but as Percy slowly kissed Nico, the young man relaxed into this rhythm Percy was setting up. Nico's mind slowly blurred as he sunk into the kiss deeper, pulling Percy closer to him and slipping his hands into Percy's long flowing hair as the sunk deeper into each other's kiss.

"I KNEW IT!" Nico broke the kiss, suddenly on alert, looking up at the door that Percy had left open. In the doorway was a burnett haired daughter of Aphrodite, grinning so wide she looked like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. "I KNEW IT!"

Percy, now completely red in the face from blushing, stared at her in shock. "Why are you out of your cabin? Its midnight for Christ sake! You're breaking curfew!"

"Actually it's one o'clock in the morning, and you to have making out for almost twenty minutes now." She squealed horribly, jumping up and down like a fangirl at a anime convention or a teen pop concert. It was kinda scary how much energy she was exerting, or at least it was scary to the son of Hades. "And I couldn't sleep! The Hermes kids put a 5-hour energy thing in my drink so I'm wired! I just got done with this fanfiction I wrote about you two and I was coming back when I walked by the door and-"

"Sheesh, kid, do you ever take a breath?" Nico said in an annoyed tone. He didn't like this interruption one bit. "And what do you mean a 'fan fiction' about us?"

Percy, already knowing what it was, tried to cover his mouth before he asked, but it was too late. The little Aphrodite girl only grinned wider.

"I can show you!" Pulling out a journal, she thrust it into Nico's hands and sat on the bed between them, giddy and happy and not shutting up. "It's only a rough draft, but I usually retype them so much better and-"

As Percy suffered through the girl's yammering, Nico tuned her out and started reading. It was short, sweet, and rated R. Maybe a little higher than R, but it was enough to make Nico want to faint from over exposure. He had to stop reading a few times to actually remember to breath. by the time he was done, his face was beat red, he was breathing heavy, and he had a nosebleed.

"Have you been taking lessons on writing from the author of Fifty Shades of Grey?" He said sarcastically, giving it back to the girl. " That was like a porno in book form!"

"Yeah! But I liked writing the details on Percy's body during that one scene-"

"The sex scene or the strip?" Nico asked without thinking.

"Hu?!" Percy squeaked, blushing a little. "Sex scene?"

"Yeah! Nico got top this time!" The burnet said gleefully.

"Uh... hu.." Nico said. He was now very VERY terrified of this girl. "Now, can you go back to your cabin and be a good little girl? Before we make you train with your mentor extra?"

"Oh! Yeah!" She got up and bolted for the door at a top run, skipping a little. "Wait till the girls hear this!"

"Percy stopped her. "No." He said sternly. "This is a secret, ok? We want to tell everyone."

The girl nodded. "OK!" Then, like a flash of lightning, she was gone.

Percy looked at Nico, concerned. "Hey, you ok?"

"No!" He blurted out a little sharper than intended. "That girl is only, what, thirteen? fourteen? And she wrote a sex story about us! And I was on top!" He laid back on the bed, trying to stop his nose from bleeding. "I swear, if that's a rough draft, then I'm scared for the final project."

Percy laughed a little, walking back to the bed slowly. "Well, it could have been worse."

"How worse?" Nico asked, tasting the blood on the back of his throat as the nosebleed started to stop. Then he realized he shouldn't have asked.

"Well," Percy said as he stood over the King of Ghosts, a smile on his face. "She could have walked in on both of us doing a enactment of her best story." Nico looked up at him, his face blushing redder than when he read the girl's story.

"Uh, you're not thinking of actually-" Percy cut him off, getting on top of the laying demigod and kissing him patiently. This time, Percy made sure the door was closed before doing anything. Nico melted like butter under Percy's heated kisses.

And as the darkness laid it's vail over them, time seemed to blend into a array of nothingness. The world seemed to move slower, stopping all together, as the two demigods were enveloped in each other's love. By morning, the two had fallen asleep in each other's arm under the black silk sheets and were not seen until lunch time. And, for some reason, no one seemed to know. Except that one thirteen year old at the Aphrodite table, smiling like a girl who knew a secret.


	3. Chapter 3

Nico looked up into the starry sky, the moon hanging low and full over the lavender field. A soft breeze caressed his exposed skin as he laid in the purple flowers next to Percy. Everything was perfect, the quiet peacefulness, the time away from camp to just be themselves, their hands curled around each other's with their fingers interlocked, everything. Looking away from the sky, Nico let his eyes stray to his secret lover. He blushed when his dark auburn eyes met deep swirling whirlpools of blueish green, a smile forming on his lips.

"Have you been staring at me the whole time?" Nico asked, already knowing the answer to that.

" Well, how could I not?" Percy said with a charming smile. Nico sighed, laughing a little under his breath. Percy rolled on top of Nico, the moonbeams glistening off his sun kissed skin, making him look godly. "After all, you" He started to say as he leaned down to kiss his partner on the lips. "have captured my heart."

Nico blushed as Percy's lips brushed his teasingly, the tangy sea salt sweat taste still on his lips from the hundred and ten degree hot flash during practice today. Nico always loved that taste, for some odd reason. "That was the most cheesiest thing you have said yet." Percy smirked, taking Nico's statement as a challenge, opening his mouth to spew more horribly cheesy pickup lines. Nico took advantage of this and flipped them, so he was on top of Percy. "But," He sat up a little, his marble skin gleaming like ivory in the moonlight. "I think that you have swept me off my feet."

"Oh and that's not cheesy either?" Percy laughed, the sound like a drug to Nico, infecting him so suddenly that he broke out into one of his genuine and rare smiles. Both of them stared into each other's eyes, like silent communication between the two men. Nico's hand resting on Percy's bare chest, and Percy's sliding up Nico's arm as he leaned up to kiss his lover.

"Well, look at this!" Nico groaned, and Percy falling backwards into the flowers in annoyance. The Aphrodite girl was standing in the far side of the field, and slowly coming closer, holding a new note book decorated with pictures that seemed to have been hand drawn. "I knew I would find you two here!"

" Elizabeth, really, this is getting annoying." Nico said, crossing his arms over his bare chest and shooting her a dark look. "You can't keep stalking us like this."

"I'm not stalking you two!" The burnet girl stated, falling into the flowers gracefully beside them. " I am just trying to annoy you into coming out of the friggen closet! It's been three weeks for Aphrodite's sake!" Percy laughed a little, watching Nico's facial expressions turn from annoyance, to rage, to sudden understanding, then finally resting on a kinder scowl.

" Elizabeth, you don't understand." Nico started, knowing Percy was not going to explain this at all to the young girl eagerly writing in her note book as she spoke to them. " If we come out to the camp that we are gay, what will they think? Sure the Aphrodite cabin would be behind it but what about the others?"

" I know the Hermes cabin would be five hundred percent behind you." Elizabeth stated, her pencil flying across the paper like nothing as she spoke. "Most of them are gay, and the one's who aren't are totally awesome with it. I know that the other cabins are fine with gays, even the Ares cabin has an open lesbian couple! They are so cute, in a bloodthirsty, Attack on Titan way."

"Attack on Titan?" Percy asked, genuinely curious.

"A very sad anime series. Do not watch if you value having a heart and not crying through the night." She stated. "But that's beside the point! You two would open the door to the campers to actually admit to being attracted to the same sex and equality in the camp!"

"Sounds like your making us the poster children for gay rights in Camp Halfblood." Nico said never liked being used, even by a girl with a pretty face.

Elizabeth sighed, her eyes looking down at her notebook pages with a sad expression. " I... I know, it sounds like that...I just-I thought..." Taking a deep breath, she stood up. "I-I'm sorry. I'll just leave." Then, before either of them could get up to stop her, she was gone like the wind.

"We just screwed up, didn't we." Nico said, now really concerned.

"Maybe." Percy said with a slight twinge of guilt. "We can talk to her tomorrow though. Don't worry, angel." He kissed Nico's hand gently. Nico looked back to where Elizabeth had set herself up, and noticed the notebook lying open to a page.

On that page was a sketch of Elizabeth with another girl, laughing. It looked so real, it was like it was a black and white photograph, Nico had to pick it up and look closer to see it wasn't. Turning the pages, he saw more drawings of her and the same girl, some of the Ares girls laughing or after a bloody battle, and then a small section on Percy and Nico. They were so lifelike it made Nico wonder if she WAS stalking them. Then he came to the last used page, and froze. It was Nico and Percy, in the same position that they were in when she was talking to them, only they were looking lovingly at each other.

And right underneath, was Elizabeth holding up a sign and what it said made Nico's heart hurt. The detail was surprisingly grim, with a orphan's pleading eyes, dirt covered and bruised, with a quivering lip as tears streamed down her face. The picture reminded him of when he was alone, after losing Bianca when he was thirteen- fourteen years old. But what really got him was what the cardboard sign said.

'I am lesbian, and I am proud. But I don't want to be bullied anymore.'


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, Nico went on a search for Elizabeth. He checked everywhere he could think to look, The Big House where they had a councilor room that the Aphrodite girls would console with other campers, the lake where the other Aphrodite girls would show off, the cabin where they would take hours to do their hair and makeup, even the Apollo cabin where the Aphrodite girls would go gaga over the hot guys. Finally, Nico decided to just ask one of the first girls he ran into if they had seen her.

A girl about the same age with blond hair and green hazel eyes was running from the forges, her orange camp shirt completely covered in soot and charred in a few places. It took Nico a second to recognize where he had seen her before it hit him hard in the face. The girl in the black and white sketch in Elizabeth's notebook. "Hey!" Nico called, running to catch up to her. She stopped, turned on her heels, and faced him, a worried smile on her face.

"Hello Mr. Di Angelo! What do you need?" The girl, now able to see her not as a blur, was nice looking. Tan skin that made the girl look hispanic, forest green eyes, and what he had mistaken for blond hair was actually more of a white. 'No wonder Elizabeth likes this girl.' Nico thought.

"Have you seen Elizabeth?" The girl's face fell, her mask of happiness darkening into horrible worry.

"No, sir." She said, her hands starting to play with the burnt seams of her shirt. "No one has seen her since last night." She looked up at him, her eyes not even hiding the depth of her worry. "I'm really starting to worry. She disappears sometimes, but she never misses our little get togethers or snack breaks by the beach."

Nico's brow furrowed. "You two are-"

"Best friends! Maybe even like sisters!" She interrupted, a little too quickly. Even as she faked a smile, Nico was growing suspicious of this girl. "She always has my back! We even went to the same orphanage for years!" She said, trying not to sound like she was nervous... or hiding something. "Who knew she would turn out to be a demigod like me! Sure, she's Aphrodite's kid and I'm Hephaestus'."

"Uh, hu." Nico stared at her, his whole body completely numb. This was starting to get really mysterious, and not look good for Elizabeth. "What was your name again?"

"Alex! Alex Scorchbur!" She stated, her hands shaking a little. "I'm gunna be late for my class, can I go now?"

He nodded, watching as the girl took off at a run towards another area of the camp. 'She is hiding something.' He thought. But he decided to keep asking more of the campers if they knew anything. After a few hours, he learned a little about the Elizabeth Walker that had been bugging him and Percy for the last few weeks. She was a shy, anti-social, and very the only daughter of Aphrodite who didn't care for any of the campers that was at the camp. She was the freak out of all the daughters of the Goddess of Love, not flaunting her good looks, showing off her beauty with short shorts and modified camp shirts, or even flirting with any of the hot guys in the camp. She would always wear her baggy jeans, her frumpy oversized camp shirt with the sleeves cut off and a black long sleeve shirt underneath, and her hair in bland ponytails or just down in messy ways like she just got out of bed. Somehow, she still looked good like that.

She was a no one in the camp, the mysterious girl that no one really knew. The only thing the other campers knew about her was that she was the one who does the night shift on the counseling room at the Big House, and that she could always be found with a notebook or sketchpad in her possession and a pencil or pen in her ear. Nico found it disturbing how the girl the campers he asked were describing the same girl that was keeping his relationship a secret. He would have thought that she would at least be a little more outgoing, maybe be the chatterbox of the Aphrodite Cabin, but even they didn't really know about her.

"She disappears a lot." A blond with blue eyes and a bikini top said. "She doesn't really like us I think."

"Yeah!" A curly haired burnet said from the other side of the cabin. "But she is an amazing writer! I once stole one of her notebooks and read it!" She pouted a little. "She didn't like that too much. She almost broke one of my nails trying to rip it out of my hands."

"And oh my god, the sketches!" Another girl gushed. " I once caught her drawing some of us on the rock over the lake, and it looked of fetch!"

"Shut up, Gretchen! Fetch isn't going to happen! You can't bring that back, it is soooo dead!" The blond screeched.

"Fuck you, Ragina! YOLO!" The girl shouted back, and started rummaging though her stuff. Nico arched an eyebrow as she emerged from under her bed with a piece of paper in her hands and a big smile on her face. "I have the sketch right here!" Coming up in her miniskirt and low cut camisole, she handed the Nico the sketch. "See? She is gifted beyond belief!"

Nico already knew this, but looking at the colored sketch was like looking actual photo. The deep green-blue of the lake water, the boys tan skin and wet hair as they splashed the girls on the realistic rock, the highlights, the shadow. If he didn't know better, he would have said it was a photograph. But, when he looked around the picture, he saw a small signature in the rock, almost hidden in the shadow in black pencil.

"See, he is sooo impressed!" The girl said, clapping.

The blond rolled her eyes, ignoring the black haired girl as she flipped through her magazine. " I wouldn't worry about Elizabeth, Mr. Di Angelo." She said, not even glancing up at him. "She always comes back, usually she just pops out of nowhere for dinner." She gave Nico a glittering pearl white smile. "Always."


	5. Chapter 5

By dinner time, Elizabeth still hadn't appeared 'like she always did.' Most of the campers were starting to get worried, thinking that there was an evil plot involved. The teachers, on the other hand, were thinking of more pressing matters. At least, one of them was.

"We need to find this Elisa girl, before the other campers start getting ready for another attack on the camp or some crazy shit like that." Mr. D said as he drank a Diet Coke from a wine glass, sitting at the head of the table with Percy and Chiron on either sides as they ate. Nico sat next to Percy on his other side, looking out at the tables that have always been separated by godly parent. "Does anyone know who saw the twerp last?"

"We did," Percy said, a grim look on his face. " We saw her last night. She got really upset and ran away from us after we talked."

"Her name" Nico hissed, his words like an icy storm that caused spines to shiver, skin to grow goosebumps, and sent frost bite into every person's soul who heard him. " is Elizabeth." Nico glared at the cursed god with a look that could have turned Medusa to stone. "Get your names right."

Mr. D rolled his eyes, unafraid of Nico's horrible gaze and icy daggers that were only his words. "Sorry." He said sarcastically.

"Was she seeing you about her... personal problems?" The centaur asked carefully, making sure that his words would not be overheard.

"No, sir." Nico growled, his eyes scanning the tables with hawk-like eyes. "We just stumbled on her in the lavender grove while taking a midnight stroll."

"Oh." Chiron said, a little more concerned about the girl to try and pry into Nico's personal reasons for being so angry.

As the three adults talked more, devising plans and arranging for search parties from the Athena and Aries cabins, Nico's eyes wandered over all the campers. The open couples were eating together, feeding each other food off their forks or holding each other's loving gaze when they accidentals caught each other staring, or just smiling and laughing about some inside joke. Other kids were just fine with them, laughing along with the jokes, gabbing about how cute they were, and making playful fun at them. And the ones who were secretly in the closet still were eating and laughing along, hiding blushes when their crush talked to them or playfully messed up their hair. How had he been so blind? How could he not notice this happening. Nico blushed a little realizing that he usually just focused on Percy, kind of like the two girls from Aries' cabin were at the moment.

Nico's eyes rested on the white haired girl, Alex, sitting a little ways away from the rest of the group. She was looking at the Aphrodite table like she was waiting for her 'best friend' to just show up out of the blue. Nico saw the concern on her face, those forest green eyes filling with real concern, bitting her lower lip a little, and her fork just playing with the pasta and meat-sauce. Then, without even a word, she got up with the tray in her hands as she left the dining hall.

Nico got up and fallowed her, the suspicion he had for her growing with every step as she headed right to the Big House. He watched from the shadows as she opened the door and entered the homy hall and open the door to the basement are and disappearing into the darkened depths. Nico fallowed, hanging back on the stairs as his eyes adjusted, the Hephaestus girl's voice wafting through the stale air like a lighthouse beacon for this wayward sailer.

"Liz... I brought you some food." Alex sounded a little more cheery than she should have sounded. There was a small yelp from the corner, a dull light gleaming in the corner just out of his sight.

"Damn you girl! You trying to scare me halfway to Hades house and back?!" Nico blinked. That was Elizabeth's voice, but she didn't sound hurt or anything, not even sad. She sounded like the happy go lucky little fangirl she was. "What was for tonight?"

"Pasta and meatballs in that good sauce you like." Alex said as she slipped down and sat by her. "You sure it's a good idea to stay down here?"

"It's better than being in the woods with all them goat guys trying to hit on ya." Nico could hear both the girls laughing, Alex's a kind of giggle while Elizabeth's was mostly a big heartfelt 'make you warm and fuzzy feeling' laugh.

"True!" Alex said, trying not to sound a bit nervous. "But I still don't think this is a good idea."

"Relax, my sweet sister from my mama's mister!" Elizabeth said in a smooth jazzy tone. Nico could picture her fluffing up the collar of her sharp black jacket like a mobster world in the 1920s, though he knew subconsciously that she was probably still in the black long sleeve shirt, the orange tee, and tattered jeans she had on last night. "It will all be fine. I planted the notebook, he talked to you and about half the camp looking for me, and the whole place is looking for me now." There was a small pause, like she was thinking things over. "Now, both Mr. Di Angelo and Mr. Jackson have a reason to come out of the damn closet! It's hurting me to keep this secret!"

"I know." Nico heard the loving tone in Alex's voice, envisioning how she was leaning her head on Elizabeth's shoulder as a comforting gesture as she yawned. "But, you know everyone isn't as forward as you are."

"Load of bull!" Nico heard the stuttering in her words, like she was blushing from her crush's actions. "But you know, this is just a small push."

"I can tell you only thought your way through half this plan, Liz."

"Shit, you can tell?"

"Well," Nico said, finally getting tired of listening. "its kind of obvious you didn't think about the part about Alex sneaking away being suspicious when she still had all her food on her plate." Coming off the staircase and into the glow of the old oil lamp that was burning in front of the two girls, he crossed his arms as he stared down at the two of them. "Found you."

Alex was hugging Elizabeth's arm, her head bolting off her friend's shoulder so it didn't look like she was being lovey dovey. He looked really scared, like she was expecting a punishment. "Oh, h-hey Mr. Di Angelo." She said sheepishly, a dark blush forming on her cheeks. "How long you b-been listening?"

"The whole time." He looked at the little runaway daughter of Aphrodite with a stern look. " You two got some explaining to do."

Elizabeth looked up at him sheepishly, a small little twitch at the corner of his mouth like she had planned for this. Nico didn't like that look. Not one bit.

"Sure, Mr. Di Angelo. I'll explain."


	6. Chapter 6

"So, let me get this strait." Mr. D said as he paced his office with an anery aura around him. Nico had called off all the searches for the missing girl, dragging a confused Percy, curious Chiron, and a loud mouth Mr. D to the Big House conference room. Now here they were, Nico leaning on the wall with Percy, Chiron sitting next to Elizabeth at the table, while Mr.D was pacing the floor like a madman trying to understand what was going on. They had sent Alex home to talk to her in private later. Chiron was pouring himself and the other two of age drinkers a glass of Château Gigault Cuvèe Viva red wine,before the camp's resident god got ahold of it and turned it to water, as Mr. D questioned the camper. "You were trying to get Mr. Di Ango and Mr. Jason, who are much older and wiser than you are, to come out of the closet by pulling this stunt. And you were stupid enough to actually believe that this little idea you half baked would work?!"

Elizabeth sat in the chair in front of him, not even fidgeting like most of the campers would be doing if they were in her position. She just sat there, baggy modified teeshirt and all, matching Mr. D's air of authority bit for bit. Nico and Percy looked at each other, both a little admiring of the kid's guts in this situation. They had fought Kronos, Gaia, and many other creatures of mythical nature that would have made a mortal run and scream, but neither of them could even do what she was doing when they got in trouble with this god when they were younger. Most of the other campers as well would be stuttering and begging for his forgiveness by now.

"Yes sir." She said calmly, her eyes locked on the camp's godly director with determination that was a surprise to him. "And it's Mr. Di ANGELO and Mr. JACKSON, sir."

"Whatever. Elisa-"

"Elizabeth." The daughter of Aphrodite interrupted cooly, a smile curving on the edge of her lips as the god of wine and parties' face went red in anger.

"Whatever!" He shouted, causing Percy and Nico to flinch a little. They could tell that he was looking his little patients he had with her quicker than anticipated. "You sent the camp into a state of utter panic! Everyone thought that we had another kidnapping turned war on our hands!"

"Well," Elizabeth said in a cool tone, that only pissed Mr. D off a lot more. His shouting didn't even seem to phase her at all as she continued. "that was an unfortunate risk that I had thought of during the making of this plan. Though, honestly, I thought that it would take more along the lines of three to four days to even notice my absence. Mr. D opened his mouth to scram at her some more, but she boldly interrupted him before he could utter a single word. "But, Mr. Dionysus, you also are failing to factor into the equation my past experiences, are you not? They were in my file that was given to you specifically when I was allowed to come here. You know, the one with all my 'disadvantages'?"

Mr. D stopped dead in his tracks, whirling on her like a hunter on it's prey and hearing something in the brushes behind him. "Wait, what?" Nico and Percy looked at each other, confused by Elizabeth's words as much as the god was. The only one that did not have a look of confusion on their face was Chiron, who was shaking his head in dismay.

"I am sorry, Miss Walker." Chiron said as he got up and moved to a file cabinet in the far corner of the room. "Mr. Dionysus did not bother to read it, and I did not think you would be comfortable with Mr. Di Angelo and Mr. Jackson knowing your... situation."

And for the first time that night, Elizabeth's calmness broke like ice hitting the ground. Nico's eyes narrowed as Chiron pulled out a file that was stuffed with lots of papers, and watch as Mr. D started reading through it. There was an eerie silence was sticky in the air, Nico's eyes focused on Elizabeth as she started to fidget with her hands. Finally, the god spoke as he slammed the file on the table.

"Well, this explains a lot." He sneered, his face lit with a evil, gleeful look. Elizabeth stopped fidgeting and met his eyes. "Are you sure you are a daughter of Aphrodite?"

"Yes sir."

"Well," He said as he circled her like a vulture. "this little file states otherwise." Then he pulled out a small stack of papers, which to Nico's surprise was foster care forms. "In total, fifty foster families in the last two years. I think that's a-"

"Dionysus." Chiron warned, holding Elizabeth's shoulders comfortingly. "You seem to have skipped over the part about the orphanage she was at."

"Oh, you mean how she's an orphan because her daddy hated her for being a fag-" Elizabeth bolted up so fast that no one had time to register what was happening.

Within seconds, Elizabeth was beating the shit out of Dionysus, pummeling his face with Celestial Bronze brass knuckles. "Don't" Hit "You." Hit "Say." Hit "That." Hit "Again!" She kept wailing on him, even as Nico and Percy pulled her off, she would slip out of their grasp and hit the god more. Then, Chiron pulled her back and restrained her hands with rope.

"Ow." Mr. D rose to his face, looking like a piñata after a hoard of kids had a turn waking it at least three times. "I am calling your parent to come pick you up. You are-"

"I have no parent." Elizabeth hissed, her eyes still swarming with an Ares-like anger. "If you actually read the file fully, you would know that I am still an orphan. So" She spit at him, getting him right in his good eye. "suck it, fucker."

"Ok, thats enough." Chiron said as he gave Elizabeth a stern look. "We will deal with this when everyone has calmed down. Nico, Percy, she is under your watch until I relieve you later. Understood?"

"Yes sir." Percy said, like the good little soldier he was. Nico, however, shrugged. He was more concerned with Elizabeth's sudden emotional outburst. Looking over at her, he could feel a lump form in his throat. She was crying, but she was forcing a stern face that just wasn't fully covering up the pain. It reminded him of when he was that young. Orphaned, bitter, and worse... Alone. He snapped out of his thoughts when he felt a hand snake around his waist. "Come on, Nico." Percy said, the expression on his lover's face telling him that he saw the same thing as he had.

Elizabeth got to her feet, and like a prisoner of war she walked in the middle of the two of them with her head held high. Nico patted her back when they got into the hall, earning him a curious look from her through the iciness. "You did good. I been wanting to punch that stupid god for years." And for the first time since she she had been found in the basement, she cracked a genuine smile.

"Well, no one calls me a faggot and gets away with it. Not even a god." She giggled a little, letting the anger wash off her features like water off a duck's feathers. "Good thing I'm not a drinking or party person."

Percy snickered, untying her hands as they walked out the door and headed out into the midsummer night's warmth, the wind caressing their skin warmly like a mother would. They walked in silence for a while, enjoying the full moon's light that made the world seem like it was dipped in magic, ducking and weaving out of branches in the forest till they came to the lavender field.

She did a running start into the field, splashing her bare feet into the stream as she chased fireflies like a small child would. Percy laid down in a spot and stared up into the sky, a faint smile on his face. "You know, I think you are getting attached to this kid, love." Nico stood in the grass, watching as the teenage girl started dancing around and singing like some carefree forest nymph.

"Oh really?" Nico chuckled, giving Percy a sideways glance. "Why you say that?"

"You clenched your fists when he started to call her a fag." Percy said in a carefree way. "And you are acting like a overprotective parent right now, watching her to make sure she doesn't wander off."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Oh shut up."

"Bout what?" Elizabeth said as she ran back over, sliding on her cargo covered knees, stopping on the soft patch of grass next to Percy. "We're you two trying to be cute and I ruined it?" She said teasingly. "Cause if your running out of pickup lines, Mr. Jackson, I can supply you with a mountain full!"

Percy laughed cheerfully, ruffling Elizabeth's already messy hair to make it look even fluffier than it was. "How many times I got to tell you, when we are alone, call me Percy!" She laughed and raised her hands, apologizing a little as he pulled her into a headlock as he continued to tease her.

Nico sat down in the grass, watching the scene. It was like a movie, a sappy, happy ending movie that always made the person watching wish it were real. 'But this is.' He thought to himself, a smiles spreading across his face as he thought absentmindedly. 'Maybe... Maybe this is something better.' He leaned back onto his hands a little, only to feel the small book poke into his side. He had completely forgotten the miniature sketchbook.

"Hey, Elizabeth?" She looked up at him, her face a complementing shade of red as she held her stomach from laughing so hard from Percy tickling her. Her eyes widened as he held out the sketchbook. "You left it last night. I'm guessing that was part of the plan?" Nico said, a kind smile on his face.

Percy arched an eyebrow, looking at the daughter of Aphrodite with curiosity. She looked at it with surprise, shaking her head no. She looked up, her face turning red with embarrassment. "You-you didn't look inside, did you?"

"Yes I did. Just like you planned." Nico said as he rolled his eyes. "Don't lie to me. I heard you in the basement. That little, what, four step plan?" She dropped the act a little and chuckled. It was halfhearted though, both the older demigods noted.

"Ok, I'm being truthful when I say, I didn't mean to plant THIS notebook." She said, hugging it to her chest. "I had another notebook set up... I guess I grabbed the wrong one."

Nico's smile dropped as he watched two crystal droplets glisten as they slid down her face. Instinctively, like his sister always did for him when he started crying, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her close. She tensed in his arms, but slowly snuggled closer like a kitten in a warm nook or cranky, as she cried her eyes out into his chest. Percy stayed silent, his heart aching a little as he watched the poor girl cry into his lover's arms. But what really got him was the look on Nico's face. That understanding, wise old man look. After what seemed like hours, she pulled away, whipping away the tears. Essentially, becoming the tough kid she was.

"What was Chiron meaning by ' the orphanage you were at.'?" Percy asked. She smiled a little, like she had been waiting for that question to be asked.

"My dad loved me. He really did." She said, opening the book to a small section of pages in the back that Nico had overlooked. They were a collection of a man and a younger Elizabeth, smiling and doing things together. Mostly, it was them boxing. "He owned a gym right next to the orphanage, and he would take me there every day while he trained the older boys from the orphanage. The only reason I'm an orphan was..." She stopped, her words catching in her throat. Nico patted her shoulder.

He already knew what happened. "He died... Didn't he." She nodded slowly, sniffling a little.

"Gang fight on the street... He was trying to help the orphan kids get out of their when someone shot him in the back." She sniffles a little, smiling as she ran her handover the colored pictures of her father's smile. "But I understand he did it for a good cause. And a family friend kept the gym open, cause in the will, it's mine when I turn 21. So I will always have a piece of him with me." She laughed a little as she turned the page, her eyes glazing as she reminisced. "And the boys my dad saved took me in when I was sent in the orphanage, taught me everything they knew from my dad and made sure no bully got at me. That's why I hopped foster families. I wanted to be near the gym, and they always dumped me back at the orphanage when they looked for a new home."

Nico nodded, listening intently to her story. Percy rubbed his hand on her back comfortingly, not fully able to say he could relate, but just enough to say he could say he understood. She smiled at the two of them, setting the book off to the side and hugging them both. Nico hugged her back, same as Percy did. The only thing heard on the wind as it blew through the lavenders and whistled through the trees was a small phrase uttered lowly by the young Aphrodite girl, almost unheard because of the black, blue, and orange fabric presses to her face.

"Thank you."


	7. Chapter 7

It was a little past midnight when Nico took Elizabeth back to camp, where Chiron waited to take her to the Aphrodite cabin. After a brief goodbye, Nico took the shortest route possible to get back to the field where his lover waited for him. In the moonlight, it wasn't hard to find his way through the dark woods. Though, as his excitement grew the pit of his stomach, he reverted to shadow travel to lessen the wait. This would be the first time him and Percy had alone time they knew wouldn't be interrupted.

As he stepped out of the shadows, he frowned. Percy wasn't in the field anymore, he couldn't see him anywhere for that matter. As he stepped cautiously forward, he felt hands wrap around his lower waist and teeth graze his neck gently. Nico purred a little, not scared of his sudden captivation, and his tense body slowly beginning to melt into the nipping teeth and the gentle embrace. He heard Percy's deep, gruff chuckle, feeling it vibrate off his skin as he pulled Nico closer to his body.

"Seems I've captured the Shadow King." He said lowly, kissing the base of Nico's neck as he felt Nico's head slowly fall back against his strong shoulder. "Now, what to do with him." Percy kept one hand wrapped around Nico's waist as his other hand slowly traced its way up the younger man's chest till it rested on Nico's opposite cheek, turning his lover's head slowly towards him.

Nico's half lidded hazel eyes gleamed with love as he smiled at the Son of Poseidon, his lips parting a little as his lover leaned in. "I think you can guess." Nico whispered breathlessly.

Percy kissed Nico's lips softly, his warm skin causing fireworks to ignite by this simple brush. Slowly, Percy turned Nico around so it would be more comfortable on his partner, their kisses deepening slowly. Nico bit Percy's bottom lip seductively, his tongue licking Percy's lips just a little in a teasing gesture. Percy responded by pushing Nico up against a tree, lifting Nico off the ground.

Nico squeaked a little, feeling Percy's hands grope his butt in the process of lifting him off his feet. "Percy, what are you-" Percy cut him off as he kissed him more, his tongue taking advantage of the opening and started a dominance fight. Even with Nico's exercises to gain strength equal to his partner's, he was powerless against his lustful attacks. All he could do was fight back, tongue for tongue, hand for hand, though it was starting to become hard for concentration as Percy pressed him into the tree and kissed him like it was the last time they would be doing this in this world. Nico wrapped his legs around Percy's waist as he moaned into his kisses, Percy's hands caressing him and teasingly playing with him.

The King of Ghosts' mind went blank, everything just blurring together in a mesh of lust and moonlight. He felt his shirt come off, but he was too drunk off the intoxicating kisses and sensations to notice. His eyes closed and everything was perfect. He felt his bare chest against Percy's, and the bark poking into his back, but he didn't feel the pain from the cuts. Then he didn't feel bark, but wind on his back, and both of Percy's hands on his back as they kissed and fought, Nico's hands tangled in Percy's hair and dug into his skin.

When Percy finally broke the kiss, his lungs burned. He didn't realize how long he had gone without breathing... But he would defiantly go longer if it meant another kiss. Percy laid him down in the lavenders, leaning over him like a guardian angel as Nico caught his breath, smiling like a predator.

"You jackass." Nico breathed, a playful tone to his sarcastic response.

Percy laughed as he leaned down. "Oh, I haven't even started."

The only time Nico thought logically was when the morning, as the sun brushed his fully exposed body that was tangled with Percy's own. And even that wasn't very intelligent, only much Percy looked like a god. Then reality hit him in the face. Morning. Mid morning. Training should have started already. And they would be wondering we're they were.

Nico bolted up into a seating position, scrambling to look for his cloths. "Well, this just got royally fucked."

"No," Percy muttered sleepily, wrapping his arms around Nico's exposed hips and leaning his chin on his shoulders. He had a smile on his face that resembled a blissful child. "You got demigod fucked."

Nico groaned. "That was the worst you have ever come up with." Percy shrugged.

"Sounded better in my head."


	8. Chapter 8

It was a week before kids were suppose to leave camp to go home to their mortal lives, school, family, electronic devices of any kind, that kind of thing. Over the past two weeks, Camp Halfblood has been buzzing with excitement and gossip. The word had spread to everyone that Mr. Nico Di Angelo and Mr. Percy Jackson were gay for each other after both of them had turned up late to practice and were asked why by one of the campers. So, know they were being more popular with the campers, mostly because the campers took bets on if they were both gay, one was gay, or the the other. Of course, Percy admitted he had been gay for a while, so the Both betters got the winnings. Of course, that was only Elizabeth, Alex, and some tall gangly guy named Paul from the Hermes cabin.

Nico was by the water's edge, skipping rocks off the dock while Percy swam deep below the rippling surface. Elisabeth was next to him drawing, as she usually did when she got free time. As always, she had on her baggy tee shirt with a bikini top underneath and ratty jeans with the matching bikini bottoms hidden. She had her hair pulled back in a sloppy bun that just poked out everywhere.

"What you working on know?" Nico asked, trying to look over her shoulder. She moved away playfully and laughed.

"Nothing!"

"Then why can't I see it?"

"Because it's not done yet!" Then she stopped, looking up at the beach. Alex had walked up with a group of boys from her cabin, all wearing bathing suits. Nico arched an eyebrow.

"Haven't asked her out yet?" Elizabeth jumped out of her skin.

"Ew! You want me to date my sister? Thats gross!" He raised his hands in the air like he was surrendering.

"Hey! Calm it! I just thought since you were les-"

"I am Bisexual, thank you very much." She stated in a matter of fact tone, looking at the beach with a goofy love sick grin that Nico recognized from when he looked at Percy that way. "And besides... There is someone else I like on the beach."

"Oh?" Nico leaned on her shoulders and fallowed her line of sight. She was staring at a tan, scared up man with violet eyes, bronze studded earrings, and wavy dirty blond hair with blue tips in his hair. Or the guy next to him, tan beyond belief with black hair and some nice abs. "The guy who looks like a male model or the one with piercing?" Nico asked.

"Piercings." Nico shrugged.

"I would have gone for the model." Elisabeth laughed a little. "So, he got a name?"

"Yeah," Elisabeth gushed, blushing a charming shade of pink. "His name is Nick Plutaina, he is the best out of most of the upper classes of the forgers, and he is turning 14 tomorrow." Nico blinked a little.

"You really like this kid, don't you?"

"Yep."

"Why don't you ask him out?" Elisabeth paled, ever so slightly.

"Are you kidding? He would never go out with me! Look at me, I'm a mess!" Nico looked her up and down, then grinned. "Uh oh. I don't like that look."

"You bet you don't like this look." Nico smiled devilishly. "Now, lets give you a make over."

Percy surfaced a little while later, his hair glistening in the noon time sun. When he whipped away the water from his eyes, those sea blues widened to as wide as shields. Elizabeth was sitting on the edge of the rock, blushing a deep crimson as Nico was braiding her long, LONG brown and blond hair. Percy didn't even recognize her without the rated tattered cloths and the messy bun with the whisks of hair flying in every which way. She was wearing a black bikini, and a miniskirt bottoms with ruffles, showing off her long tan legs and well developed upper body, and with her hair pulled back right, he could actually see her whole face. Percy gawked at how lovely she looked. "Who is this girl?"

The daughter of Aphrodite blushed even redder and covered her face in her dainty hands. 'When did her arms become so slender?' Nico smirked. "I'll take that reaction as a 'I did good'."

"Defiantly... but why-"

"Shut up shut up shut up shut up!" Elizabeth screech, her face turning beat red. Percy looked at the beach where Nico pointed and slowly nodded.

"Boy or girl?"

"Boy, blond, piercing." Nico said, untagling a note from the bottom of her hair. "When did your hair grow out?"

"Shut up."

"Touché."

Percy's eyes widened when he found the guy who matched that description. "Dude! I would have gone for the model guy!"

"That's what I said!" Nico laughed, tying the hair-tie around the end of the braid and smiled in triumph. "There! Done!"

Elizabeth instantly took a look at it, and smiled a little. "I feel girly. Do I really have to do this?"

"Yes." Both boys said, Percy already understanding what Nico was doing.

"And," Percy added, smiling devilishly. "I can help you look good while your going over there." Elisabeth's eyes widened in fear, already regretting coming to the beach today.

Alex was laying on a towel, the soft sand in between her toes as she soaked in the rays. Though, they made her white scares stand out, she always loved tanning. She had plotted with Elizabeth earlier about going to the beach so she could admire her crush from afar, just like she always did. This time, she was gunna enjoy her time at the beach, go swimming with her green bikini on and probably have a splash fight with her boyfriend Jonny after tanning. She sighed. 'If only Elisabeth would get over being antisocial and join them.' Then she started to think of all the ways to get her to come over and be apart of the group instead of the wallflower she was. 'Maybe if I could just-"

Then her thoughts were snapped back to the present when she heard Jonny shout to her from the water. "HEY! LEX!"

"WHAT YOU LOUSY JERK!?" Alex shouted back as she sat up, pouting at him in anger because he was interrupting her mischief making mind. Then she gasped.

Elizabeth was shyly smiling at her, waving a little. Alex only recognized her by her hair color and her face, the rest was someone else's 'Has she always looked like that?' Jonny was waving for Alex to come over. "COME ON LEX! GET OVER HERE!"

"I'M COMING, YOU MORON!" She jumped up and threw her sunglasses to the side, and grabbing Nick's hand as she passed. "Come on, Nick. I wanna introduce you to my friend."

Nico and Percy watched from the sidelines, hidden by the island rock just a little ways away. "Well, look at her." Nico said proudly, a smile on his face as he watched her actually participate with other campers. She looked like she was having fun. "Who knew she was this lovely?"

"She's too young for you, Nico." Percy teased, kissed his neck gently. " And besides, she always was a lovely thirteen year old."

"She's thirteen?"

"Yeah. Funny, isn't it?" Nico nodded. He had almost forgotten how old she was.

"She hit puberty way too early. She looks at least sixteen!" Percy nodded.

"Maybe that's why she wears that shirt and pants. She feels like she's more of a freak, it happens." Nico stated, watching the teenagers having fun. "Is this bad that we are watching them?"

"Little bit." Percy said. "But she's like a daughter to us. So this is actually normal."

Nico leaned back into Percy, smiling a little as he closes his eyes and relaxed. "You know, it's gunna be weird when we are back at our apartments and not able to see her every day.

"Yeah." Percy said, wrapping an arm around Nico as he rested his chin in Nico's soft blackish-brown hair, smiling a little. "Though, bright side is I get more time to kiss you and not have to worry about anyone walking in on us while I'm having fun with you." Nico laughed a little, mostly from Percy tickling him.

"Maybe, but she is just going to jump around from foster home to foster home again." Nico's expressions soured, his eyebrows wrinkling cutely. "Percy, where was the gym her father owned?"

Percy had to think for a minute, listening to the wind whisk through the rock's little nooks and crannies making a harmonic whistle. "Uuuhhhh... Hmmm... Wasn't is in New York? Somewhere near my apartment?"

Nico nodded slowly. "Yeah... Still have that open room you never use?"

Percy arched an eyebrow. "Yes, why?"

Nico smiled a little. "Mind me moving in?" Percy grinned a little more.

"Don't mind if you do."


	9. Chapter 9

Nico and Percy were hanging out in the Big House, snuggled up on the couch together watching 'Love, Actually' on the big screen TV that Mr. D had finally given up on the 'No technology in the Big House.' rule and bought to watch his wine channel. It was nine at night, and Elisabeth walked in at the very end of the movie, and Nico and Percy kissing romantically on the couch. Nico heard the door open and smiled. "How did the date go?"

There was no answer. Percy and Nico sat up and looked over at her, and they both froze.

Elisabeth looked like she just walked out of a mixed martial arts tournament. Her arms were covered in bruises, hand print sized and just turning greenish purple. The skinny jeans and tan hippie shirt that she had borrowed from Alex were ripped a little bit and covered in dust. Her bronze Brass Knuckles were out, covering her whole hand in bronze, specked with blood. She looked like a mess.

Nico was the first to react, jumping off and over the couch to get to her. She had a blank look on her face, like someone had hit her and she didn't know what to do. Holding her shoulders, he looked her in her eyes. "Elisabeth, Elisabeth, are you ok?" She nodded slowly, her amber eyes looking into his dark hazels in a daze. "What happened? Did Nick do this to you?"

Then her lips twitched into a smile. "No." She didn't sound like herself at all. That voice was a droning, blah sound that didn't quiet fit with her.

Nico looked at Percy, who was right behind him with no experience on what to do. Percy looked her over a little, then ruffled her hair like nothing was wrong. "What happened, Lis? Did one of the Aphrodite girls get jealous of you?"

Elizabeth laughed a little. "No, Percy!" She was starting to sound a little like herself. Nico arched an eyebrow, a little weirded out by this.

"Then what happened?"

After Nico sat her down on the couch and a hour passed, Nico and Percy knew the whole story. Nick had taken her to a extra training he was having that was hosted by the Ares cabin, and after they would go out on a date, but she got roped into it as well. Then, one of the guys tried to hit on her, "And he was really ugly looking! He looked like Toad from the X-Men!", and he was really putting it on strong. She tried to ignore him, but he kept trying and trying and trying till finally Nick noticed.. Nick was about to tap him and tell the slim she was taken, when the guy grabbed both her arms and tried to kiss her. So, she bashed his skull with her's, and when he was dazed, she kicked him in the groin and punched him away. The blood was from the guy. "Guess I kicked him a little too hard. But I was scared! I didn't know what to do!" Then, after the practice, Nick took her to the beach, where they had a picnic and looked up at the stars talking. "It was amazing! Turns out we like the same things! And he actually likes drawing a lot too!" Then he took her to the Big House, because Nico and Percy had made it clear that she was to come strait here after the date, and he kissed her. Thats why she looked dazed. It was her first kiss with a guy, ever.

Nico nodded slowly, understanding every word of what she rapid fired at them like all teenage girls did. Percy, on the other hand, fell behind. "So... This wasn't Nick's hand print? It was the slime?"

"Yes, Percy!" Elizabeths said, hugging a pillow to her chest, her lips pursed in a cute pout. "Now listen better!"

"How can I" Percy asked, "if you keep talking like a rapid firing gun! I only caught a few parts of that!"

"Then let me repeat it for you!" Elizabeth opened her mouth, taking in a deep breath, when Nico interrupted, saving Percy's fine butt from being subjected to listening to the whole story again.

"So, you two going to keep in touch over the school year? After all, you are both leaving tomorrow." Nico asked. Elisabeth's face fell, her big smile turning into a sad frown. She leaned into her knees and planted her face in the pillow.

"I don't know." She admitted. "He lives a few blocks from the orphanage, but I'm probably going to get shipped out of their as soon as they find a home for me." She sighed in defeat. "Maybe this time I'll just stay there cause they can deal with the crap I throw at them."

Nico looked at Percy, his eyes pleading with him. Percy smiled a little, and cleared his throat. "Actually, I called your orphanage a week ago." Elizabeth looked up at them, her eyebrows arched in a 'What you talking about?' manner. Nico smiled wide, encouraging Percy to continue. " Well, it turns out that my apartment is a little ways away from your gym, and Nico is already moving in with me, plus there will be an extra room, so-"

"Hold on!" Elisabeth shouted, her eyes widening into the size of dinner plates. "Are you asking me if I want to move in?!"

"No," Percy said, a playful smile on his face. " I want to know if you want us to adopt you."

The reaction that came from Elisabeth was nothing like what Nico or Percy expected. First, she paused a second and tried to comprehend what she had just heard, then she grinned wide, she screamed, and finally hugged them. Percy was ready for the screaming, and Nico was ready for just a hug, but not at the same time. So, it was kind of an awkward hug scream bungle and they all three fell backwards into the arm of the couch.

"YES!" Elisabeth screamed, almost crying with joy. "YES YES YES YES!"

"Then we will be giving you a trip to the orphanage tomorrow." Nico said, his ears ringing her screams in his them. "And we will make this official!" Elizabeth started cry then, just the kind of unattractive snot cry that just looked horrible on anyone, even a Aphrodite kid. Nico and Percy both held her while she cried, both actually ready for this reaction and had a box of tissue on the coffee table just for this.

"You" she sobbed, blowing her nose into a tissue Nico offered her. "You guys are the most amazing people ever!"

"Well," Percy said smiling. "It was either adopt or get Rachel pregnant, and Nico didn't approve of that." Nico smacked him in the back of the head. Elisabeth laughed a little.

"Percy is only joking." Nico said, already planning his way of killing Percy later. "You were our only choice. Now, how you going to tell Nick?"

Elisabeth straitened up, here tears stopping instantly as she realized that she would have to tell him. "Oh my gods! I got to tell him! But how?! He is leaving right at five in the morning!"

"Why not just go over and get Alex to deliver a message?" Percy suggested. Elisabeth grinned wider,.

"Perfect! she doesn't sleep anyway!" She jumped up from the couch and started to run to the door, then she turned around. "How do I word it?!V VI don't know what to say!"

"Just," Nico commented, laughing a little out of how silly this was. "tell him exactly what's going on, add a picture of you and him looking up at the stars or something. Just do what you would do."

She smiled. "Thank." She winked at him and added a little extra word to it that made Nico feel a little fuzzy on the inside. "Dad." Then she was gone.

Percy smiled at Nico, pulling him into his lap and hugging him close. "Well, that went better than expected." Nico nodded.

"I'm just glad she said yes."

"I'm not." Percy said jokingly. Nico didn't get the joking tone and whirled on him.

"What you mean?!" Percy laughed, a big goofy smile on his face and a sparkle in those oceanic orbs he called eyes.

"I mean that I don't get to have endless time just with you anymore." Nico blushed a little. "That, and we are going to be the most weird and dysfunctional family ever." Nico shrugged and leaned in, kissing Percy on the lips.

"Don't worry." He said. "We are going to survive this adventure."


	10. Chapter 10

"Oh thank the gods it's finally over!"

"It wasn't that bad, was it Elisabeth?"

"You kidding?! They all acted like I was a freak! Next time, I'm not dressing up for your amusement, Nico."

"Oh come on! You look beautiful!"

"Yeah, and they are used to me looking like I could kill them with a single punch! Not this dainty little pansy that can't hurt a fly!"

Percy groaned as he drank another gulp of his coffee. Nico and Elizabeth had been fighting all morning after Nico had forced her out of the house and practically dragged her to the orphanage so that they could do the weekly check ups. It's been at least a month since they had all moved in, and Percy had already invested in ear plugs for when they get into horrible fights. Mostly about her appearance.

"You are a growing woman-"

"I'm 14! We celebrated my Birthday yesterday!"

"I know that! But seriously, you can't keep looking like you just walked out of a homeless shelter!"

"Nico, I don't expect you to understand at all."

"Elisabeth! Don't you dare-"

SLAM! Percy sighed. This was the third time she had slammed the door that day. And this was tripled over the week, and triple that over the month. "If that door breaks, I'm not replacing it." Percy grumbled as he took another swig from his dolphin coffee cup. Nico came in, dressed in a nice black suit and red undershirt, with anger written all over his face. "So, how did the meeting go?"

Nico glared at him, taking a seat across from Percy, then staring out the window. Percy could see the steam coming out of his nose and lazers out of his eyes. "Fine."

Percy didn't push the subject, instead, he was reading the paper. "So... how we gunna make this up to her?"

Nico rolled his eyes. " Who knows."

Percy sighed. "You really are just as bad as her, Nico. Just calm down and I'll talk to her when she calms down." Nico sighed.

"What were we doing, Percy?" This caught Percy off guard,from the tone in his voice, the the way he was just staring sadly out the window. "I don't think we were ready for a kid."

Percy got up and started washing dishes, shaking his head. "No, Nico, we are not having this talk again."

"Percy, I'm not a good father! Look, I just got her mad at me! All cause I want her to look pretty!"

Percy sighed, the water flowing out of the faucet and hitting the dishes for a few minutes before he finally spoke. "Nico. You remember how you were when you were that age?"

"I was an orphaned kid with no sister and blaming the man I loved for her murder." Percy winced, feeling the dagger in his words sink into his back slowly. " Not to mention I tried killing you by plotting with my father to get you into a trap."

"Ok, not the best comparison." Nico looked him in the eyes, his words laced thickly with sarcasm.

"No shit, Sherlock." Percy groaned.

"Well, she's getting used to feeling pretty, having a family, and her boyfriend isn't texting her. Ease up a litt-"

Nico slammed his fist on the table. "What do you mean?! He has been texting her all through the meeting! "

Percy rolled his eyes. "Thats his half brother, dear. Elisabeth and him have been great friends lately."

"Why?!"

Percy closed his eyes. He needed more coffee, or at least some 5 Hour Energy. This was exhausting. "They are both moving into new homes, they both are being told to change, and they both need a friend. That, and Nick seems to be disgusted with her friendship with him so he is threatening her to choose. It's going to be a pain for a while Nico, trust me. I have dealt with plenty of these situations."

Nico stared at him dumbfounded. "How the hell do you know this?"

Percy shrugged. "You are forgetting that I used to be a new kid in a lot of new schools. I learned my way around the board and I learned my ways around avoiding the girls at this age. They are drama mamas."

Nico arched an eyebrow, then sighed. "I wish there was a handbook for taking care of teenagers."

"There is one, love." Percy said, turning off the water and hugging him from behind. "It's called trial and error."

"Haha, very funny, Percy. Very funny." Nico said dryly, his voice not hiding the hint of amusement that was deep within the words. "So, you going to take my mind of this, like always? Then deal with the twit?"

"Yep." Percy said, a tired smile on his face. "Flip a coin and see who's on top?"

"Sure."

Elisabeth looked up at the sky, laying back in the grass with her sketch pad and her notebook on either side of her. Her new IPhone 3GS was in her pocket of her faded blue jeans. Her hair was freely flowing in waves across the grass like a river of golden brown and honey blond, pined back so that it stayed out of her makeup covered face. She hated this. She thought that this was a blessing, having two people to listen to her, a boyfriend who liked her and understood her, and now a new friend who could easily be the coolest person she has ever met. Now it was turning out to be a cure, and the only good thing that was coming out of it was her new friendship. She sighed as she closed her amber eyes and took a deep breath. The aroma of roses, daisies, bluebells, bleeding hearts, and lavenders filled the sog filled air, and she treasured this smell for as long as she could. Then her phone went off.

"This is it,

the Apocalypse.

Im waking up,

I feel it in my bones,

enough to make my systems blow!

Welcome to the new age,

to the new age,

welcome to the new age,

to the new age!

Oooh oh oh!

Oooh oh oh!

I'm Radioactive!

Radioactive!"

Elisabeth smiled a little and sat up. The rooftop of the apartment was like a greenhouse guardian, the fake grass all over the cement roof and the potted plants made it feel like Nirvana. Though it was "Uncle" Grover's, she had claimed it while he was still preaching to the woodland world of the death of the great Pan, god of the forests. She took the phone out of her pocket and slide the bar and put in the code. Nick had texted her, apologizing again about how he had treated her, how wrong it was that he was jealous. And then proceed to pleading for her to talk to him. She sighed and wrote out her reply, but before she could send it, she got another text.

Opening it, she looked at the ID, and smiled. It was Henry, Nick's half brother who had just moved into their house a few weeks back.

'How are you?'

She smiled a little, and with fast fingers, she typed out her response. 'Good, just hanging out on the roof again. You?' then she pressed Send.

While she waited for his text back, she looked back at Nick's. Slowly, she pressed the send button and instantly got a reply.

'I love you, you know that Lis.' She sighed. She didn't really believe Nick anymore. One minute he was the sweetest guy, next he was jealous of her getting attention form other guys. Some of her best friends from the orphanage were guys. The one time she tried to introduce them to him, he turned and dragged her away, saying how she shouldn't be hanging out with them.

She got another text, breaking her out of her depressing thoughts. This time it was Henry.

'You want some company? You sound lonely.' She smiled a little, and replied with a yes, please added in for politeness. It was scary how fast this kid could text. 'I'll be right there. Close your eyes.'

She laughed. He always did this, but she always did as he asked. She knew his secret, and she swore to keep it. After all, is it every day that you get a friend who is a son of Hades?

Within seconds, she heard the soft crunch of the plastic grass under his feet as he came out of the shadows like a ghost. She smiled a little, but didn't open her eyes at all, just sat there and waited for him to give her that little sign he was there. Just like always.

"Hey..." He said softly in her ear, his hand on her shoulder ever so slightly. She smiled and opened her eyes, and looked into a pair of lovely brown, almost blood red eyes, that were softly looking at her in concern. Henry looked like a god the way the sun hit him, his tan skin shining off the morning rays like a aura of calmness and love around him, though the way he dressed you would have never noticed. Black, black, black, black. Everything he wore was black, his long trench coat that was worn out and faded from being worn in every weather and every occasion, his dark black jeans that were ripped up from skateboarding and skinning his knees on the pavement, his Black Veil Brides teeshirt that had the sleeves cut out of it to show off his strong muscular arms when he rarely took off his trench coat, even down to his black Doc Martian boots he had on his feet. His red tipped, naturally sun bleached blond hair fell in his face a little, giving his eyes a lovely little mist to them. Like Nick, he was 14, and unlike Nick, he never told her to change. Never.

"Hey to you too." She said, giving him a big hug around the neck, like she alwasy gave him. And like always, he reluctantly hugged back. It was getting easier to tell he was nervous around her, now that she was getting to know him better. So, the hugs were short, the talks were long, and he only stayed for a small bit. But she always loved it like this.

"So," Henry said, taking off his jacket and sitting down beside her. "fight with one of your dads again?"

Elisabeth sighed, getting comfortable in the fake grass and looking up at the sky. "Yeah... Nico was trying to make me dress like this."

He looked her up and down, observing her pastel pink Hippie shirt that flowed nicely around her well developed form, faded bellbottoms, and her classic black Converse shoes that didn't match the outfit at all. He also noticed the light makeup on her face, making her look a little plastic to him. Honestly, he liked everything else other than the makeup, but he shrugged so she wouldn't flip out on him. "You try telling him its not a you kind of thing to wear pink?" Elisabeth laughed, earning a small little grin from him.

"Tried and failed, dear boy. Tried and failed." She sighed and counted the clouds. She felt his arm brush up against hers as he laid down beside her, and she felt his hand gently brush hers.

"My dear, you try, you fail, you try, you fail. But the true failure is when you stop trying."

Elisabeth started laughing hysterically, unable to hold back on it. "Ok, you have either eaten a fortune cookie or you watched The Haunted Mansion again!" He laughed a little too, his walls slowly falling. Just ever so slightly that she could see the real, genuine him.

"Hey, the crystal ball gypsie heads never lies, Elisabeth! It's good advice."

"Yeah..." She gave him a sideways glance, before looking back at the sky. She smiled as she watched the clouds pass, changing ever so slightly, little by little. It was silent for a long time, only the whisks of wind and the dull buzz of the streets bellow piercing through the calm vale. "Hey... Can I ask you something?" Elisabeth finally said, turning over on her side to face him. He had already done the same to face her.

"Shoot."

"Will it always be like this? Not the whole fighting with my dads and you being unwanted in your home, but... This. Just us, watching the sky together. Belonging. Understanding." He smiled kindly, his free hand that wasn't pinned to the ground whipping away her hair from her face gently. His eyes seemed sad though, and that worried her.

"I don't know." He admitted. "Things change a lot. Maybe you'll drift into being what your dad's want, or the girl Nick wants... But maybe, just maybe, you'll fight back and stay the way you are. I already made my choice, and I will never let them change me... So I'll always be a text away from you... Whenever you need me."

Elisabeth smiled brightly, her eyes closing from trying not to cry at how much that meant to her. "Than you Henry." She said, and hr heart was completely in it. Nothing was fake this time? "You are the best friend I could ever have." Then she laid back down on the grass, her eyes still closed as she soaked up the sun's warm rays.

But when she wasn't looking, his expression saddened, and he looked like he would cry. Like a lost soul in the graveyard with a hopeless search for something they had lost, he sighed softly so Elisabeth would never hear. His eyes slowly drifted to her hand, open and palm up to the sky like she was waiting for raindrops to fall so she could catch them. Slowly, he reached his hand out to take her's, but stopped. He knew it wasn't his place. He knew she would never understand exactly why he was here, why he had reached out to her. For now, this was enough. Being friends was enough.

"So," Elisabeth teased, breaking him out of his thoughts. "Still going to refuse to come to Camp Halfblood next year?" He sighed.

"You know that I can't. If they found out I am a son of The Lord of the Dead, I'm screwed." She sighed.

"Yeah, that's a bummer. I would have loved for you to meet everyone." He arched an eyebrows, but knew she was choosing her words. She had a habit of doing that, and he always waited five seconds before talking. "And I'm sure that not everyone would hate you. You'd have me!" He laughed a little.

"I'll think about it then." She grinned wider, and opened her eyes to the sky, the amber orbs sparkling in the light. Then they heard the rustle of the iron bars. "Shit."

Elisabeth jumped up to her feet, fast, and ran over and threw him his coat. "Hurry up and go!" She hissed to him. He nodded, and she turned her back to him. Then he disappeared in a cloud of black and smoke.

Percy poked his head over the wall, his hands gripping the iron step ladder as he looked around the small garden Grover had insisted on making while they were teenagers with freedom. He saw Elisabeth looking at her phone, her lips turning up into a smile. "Hey, am I interrupting sanctuary time?"

She looked up and shook her head no. "Come to calm the savage beast? Or get me to apologize for being mad?"

"Nope." Percy lifted himself the rest of the way up, his muscles straining a little under the effort of getting up there after the little teasing he did to Nico. "I am just going to listen to you. After all, I'm a little concerned."

Elisabeth sat on the fake grass as picked up her sketchbook, her other hand setting down the phone and replacing it with a pencil. "I'm fine, dad... Nick texted me."

"Finally!" Percy grinned wide as he sat in his blue plastic beach chair, taking this moment to relax for the few sacred minutes before she would go on about how bad it really was. "I thought I would have to kick his rear end into Tartarus so he would understand not to ignore my daughter!" Elisabeth laughed, making Percy grin ever so wider.

"Dad, that would be the sweetest thing you have ever done. But..." She trailed off, her smiling face switching to a sadder mask. "I'm not really sure it's a good thing."

"Why?" Percy said, concern filling his voice as he sat up straiter to look at her better. "Don't you like him?"

"I do!" Elisabeth said defensively, then looked back at her drawing. "Or... I think I do."

Percy slowly nodded, sighing and getting down in the fake grass next to her. "Ok, spill. What's on that mind of yours?"

Elisabeth took a deep breath, her eyes still on her sketchpad as her pencil flew across the page. She attempted to talk slowly, so Percy could fallow better, but she had a hunch that he was still not going to anyway. "Well... You and dad want me to change who I am... Sure, it's nice that I look good like this, but I don't feel comfortable in this... Costume." Percy nodded, urging her to continue. "And Nick doesn't want me to hang out with my old friends cause they are guys, let alone with his half brother."

"Henry, right?" Elisabeth smiled and nodded. "You an him still good friends?"

"Yeah." She said, her eyes glossing over a little, her mind starting to wander. ADHD, go figure. "But I think it's not going to last."

"Think the Aphrodite effect will occur?" Percy asked.

Elisabeth stopped drawing and looked at him with a 'are you kidding me?' look. "It's the Aphrodite and Hephaestus effect." She corrected, then looked at her drawing. Percy looked over her shoulder and smiled a little. It was a picture of her and Nick and Henry, both on either side of her, looking up at the sky, smiling.

"I got it half right at least." Percy said, chuckling. "And might I say, that's not going to happen."

"Are you sure?" Elisabeth looked him in the eyes, stubborn and rather defeated. "Cause it happened. Hephaestus caught Aphrodite with Ares! But it was only cause Aphrodite didn't love him and Hephaestus was a jealous man!" Percy arched an eyebrow.

"Your not cheating on Nick with Henry, are you?" Elisabeth's face blushed dark red, and she looked like she had just been struck in the back of the head.

"N-n-no! NO! I would never cheat! I'm a loyal person!" Percy smiled a little and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"I know. But I just got to ask." He smiled as he held her chin in one hand so she would look at him. "Now, about us wanting you to change. I don't want to make you uncomfortable at all, and Nico... Well, he just wants what is best for you. We both do." Elisabeth sighed, leaning into his shoulders a little as she closed her eyes.

"Is it gunna stop soon? Because I really wanna wear my black and baggy cloths again." Percy laughed a little, his worn out face holding a bright smile in place.

"You can put up with us. Don't worry." Elisabeth looked back at her drawing, her smile fading just a little as her thoughts wandered.

"Yeah... Hey, can I ask two more questions?"

"That's one."

"Is everything going to change?" She asked him. "Do I have to change?" Percy took a moment to think, his expression showing a hint of how disturbed by this question he was.

"Hhhmmmm... That's a tricky one." He mused, stroking his five o'clock shadow as he tried to find the words. "There are things that can change, yes, but before each change comes a pesky little choice to make. It's something we have to go through, every day. But to answer your questions, it all depends on you. You don't have to change, weather me or your other father want you to." She sighed, looking back up at the sky, and she saw a little bird shaped cloud breaking out of it's fluffy cloud cage. She smiled a little, taking it as a good sign. "So yes things will change."

"And hopefully for the better." She mused, as she heard Nico come up the iron ladder and his tuft of messy black hair poking up over the wall.

"Did I just miss something important?" Bother Percy and Elisabeth looked at each other, then started laughing.

"Little bit, dad!" Elisabeth called. Nico took that as a good sign and hopped over the wall and landed on the grass with a thud. "But don't worry. It probably wasn't that important."

"Better not have." Nico smirked, his suit completely messed up from its crisp and classy form it once possessed before Percy pulled his little 'calming' session. He sat down next to Percy and snuggled up to his other arm, kissing his cheek gently and playfully messing up Elisabeth's hair. "Or else I might mess up later on." Elisabeth laughed.

"Trust me, you will. We all will."

"Oh look who is being a fortune cookie, Miss. Know-It-All!" Percy said, laughing as he looked up at the sky. "But your right. How else do we learn?" Nico groaned.

"I sense imposing doom with those words."

"Yeah, me too." Elisabeth said, her phone ringing again with another text. She ignored it and looked at her family. Her messed up, demigod, screwed up family. But it was hers none the less. "But hey, lets not get ahead of ourselves."

"Yeah!" Percy said as he pulled them in for a big family group hug. He smelt like ground coffee beans when he did this, which was oddly soothing. "Lets just live in the now! Us, a big, happy family!" Nico laughed, and so did Elisabeth. But, there was one thought that bugged her the rest of the time they stayed up on the roof, enjoying their company to its full potential.

'How long will this last?'


End file.
